All modern buildings make good use of plumbing utilities, to receive fresh water and safely dispose of dirty, used water. This idea dates back to the Roman Empire, but today’s water treatment plants and toilets are more advanced than anything the Romans had. Most American properties today are connected to public water and sewage utilities, while 25% of total houses make use of septic systems instead. These are self-contained water treatment systems that can be found on the house’s property, and they are critical if the property is too remote to use public utilities. And like any other hardware, these septic tanks and pipes may sometimes need septic pumping or repair, so a concerned homeowner may look up “septic removal near me” or “quick septic removal near me” to get some professional help. Such professionals can repair, replace, or clean off any part of a house’s septic system and keep it running.
How a Septic System Works
To see why a person might look up “septic removal near me,” it’s important to know how these systems normally operate. A house’s pipes will deliver dirty, used water down into the underground septic tank, and this tank may hold many gallons of water at once. Inside that tank, bacteria colonies will break up organic waste, and particles will settle at the bottom to form a thick sludge. Fats and oils will float to the top, leaving relatively clean water in between. After a few days of this, the water will pass through a filter grate (cleaning it further) and flow deeper into the system. The semi-clean water is now flowing through branching pipes just under the soil’s surface, and the water leaks out through holes in those pipes. Loose soil, gravel, and bacteria colonies will further filter and sanitize that water, and clean water will enter the natural environment. The process is now complete, and it finishes in a large patch of ground known as the drainage field.
Contacting Septic Removal Near Me
What might go wrong with a septic system, so that a homeowner has to look up “septic removal near me” or “septic pumping services nearby”? For one thing, the tank will continue to fill up with thick sludge over time, since that sludge has no means of leaving the tank on its own. So, the property owner may use a long stick (a “sludge judge”) and insert it into the tank, to measure how full it has become. Once that tank is one third to one half full, the property owner may look up and call upon septic pumping services to empty it. These professionals will arrive with a truck complete with a tank, pump, and a hose. The workers will unearth the tank and open its hatch, attach the hose, and draw up all sludge until the tank is emptied out. The hatch is then closed, and the tank buried again.
If the tank is very old, it may start leaking, and that cannot be allowed. Workers may be called upon to dig up that old tank, remove it, and install a new one that may even be larger or smaller (depending on the property owner’s wishes). A tank might last for 20 years or so (that’s not an exact figure) until it must be replaced like that.
The filter screen might get clogged or damaged, and that can impede water flow. But the grate shouldn’t just be removed to restore water flow. That filter grate can be cleaned off, repaired, or even replaced, and restore proper water flow and filtration deeper into the system. Meanwhile, those pipes in the system may get clogged, and that can restrict water flow or even cause a blockage. Should that happen, professionals can be hired to dig up those pipes and scour them clean with pressurized water. Damaged pipes can be replaced or repaired as needed.
Also, no motor vehicles should drive across the drainage field, since this may compress the earth and gravel and block the natural filtration system there. The homeowner is also urged against flushing away items such as baby diapers, tobacco products, or moisturized hand towels, since they won’t break down in the septic tank like ordinary waste will. Instead, those items may clog the septic system.
